3 Chinese workers killed by kidnappers in Sudan

Sarah El Deeb, Associated Press

Published
4:00 am PDT, Wednesday, October 29, 2008

A handout picture from the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) shows Chinese and Sudanese oil workers carrying a coffin of one of their kidnaped and killed colleagues ahead of repatriation in Khartoum airport on October 28, 2008. The bodies of three Chinese oil workers and three of their colleagues wounded in a kidnapping ordeal arrived in Khartoum today for full military honours. The killings, the first in a foreign hostage ordeal in Sudan in recent memory, has embarrassed the government, which has vowed to boost security for the country's crucial oil industry. AFP PHOTO/HO/UNMIS/Johann Hattingh == RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE == (Photo credit should read JOHANN HATTINGH/AFP/Getty Images) less

A handout picture from the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) shows Chinese and Sudanese oil workers carrying a coffin of one of their kidnaped and killed colleagues ahead of repatriation in Khartoum ... more

Photo: Johann Hattingh, AFP/Getty Images

Photo: Johann Hattingh, AFP/Getty Images

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A handout picture from the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) shows Chinese and Sudanese oil workers carrying a coffin of one of their kidnaped and killed colleagues ahead of repatriation in Khartoum airport on October 28, 2008. The bodies of three Chinese oil workers and three of their colleagues wounded in a kidnapping ordeal arrived in Khartoum today for full military honours. The killings, the first in a foreign hostage ordeal in Sudan in recent memory, has embarrassed the government, which has vowed to boost security for the country's crucial oil industry. AFP PHOTO/HO/UNMIS/Johann Hattingh == RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE == (Photo credit should read JOHANN HATTINGH/AFP/Getty Images) less

A handout picture from the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) shows Chinese and Sudanese oil workers carrying a coffin of one of their kidnaped and killed colleagues ahead of repatriation in Khartoum ... more

Photo: Johann Hattingh, AFP/Getty Images

3 Chinese workers killed by kidnappers in Sudan

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The kidnappers of nine Chinese oil workers in Sudan killed at least three hostages Tuesday after being spooked by a surveillance plane, a Sudanese government official said, contradicting Chinese claims of a botched rescue.

Initially the Sudanese government said five had been killed, but the undersecretary at the Foreign Ministry, Mutrif Siddiq, told reporters only three of the Chinese workers were confirmed dead and three others were injured and receiving medical care. Three more remain missing.

"Our forces are now scouring all the hiding places to search for the missing, whether killed or injured," Siddiq told reporters at the airport, where the coffins of three victims were unloaded.

The kidnappers "are running, they are scared, maybe they will do something reckless. We really don't know the status of these missing," Siddiq said.

China originally said that the hostages had been killed during a Sudanese rescue operation. But Siddiq insisted there were no clashes, only a plane tracking their movements overhead. The kidnappers, he said, shot randomly at the aircraft as they fled the scene.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said China was involved in a rescue attempt, but declined to say if the Chinese government had been in contact with the rebels and refused to give further details. She said China had a working group in Sudan at the time of the rescue.

The deaths are one of the most violent acts China has faced in recent years as its businesses expand worldwide to buy energy and other raw materials or find new markets.

Sudan's Defense Minister Abdel Rahim Hussein called the slaying a "terrorist act," and Foreign Ministry officials said there will be new measures to protect foreign interests in Sudan.

China, which buys nearly two-thirds of Sudan's oil, has angered anti-government forces in Darfur who argue that it provides crucial revenue to the government, involved in a civil war where 300,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced.

Jiang said China will not cut its business ties with Sudan, saying they were beneficial to both countries.

A tribal leader from the area, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said the kidnappers were Arab gunmen who were part of a government militia and who now feel neglected by Khartoum.